


Alihotsy Maniae

by accio_broom



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: BAMF Neville Longbottom, Gen, Herbology, Herbology Professor Neville Longbottom, IWSC | The International Wizarding Schools Championship Writing Challenge, Investigations, Plants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:47:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28716747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/accio_broom/pseuds/accio_broom
Summary: Everything will kill you, so choose something fun.After rumours of a rare, new, dangerous plant reach Hogwarts, Neville decides to ignore Professor Sprout's warnings in the hope of finding a cure to help his parents.
Kudos: 6
Collections: International Wizarding School Competition - Ilvermorny





	Alihotsy Maniae

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Neville or anything from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Unfortunately.
> 
> This is set around 10 years after the Battle of Hogwarts. Many thanks to Magpie & Vee for being my betas. I'm super proud of what you've helped me to come up with.

_Everything will kill you, so choose something fun._

Neville Longbottom couldn't remember where he had heard this, or who had even said it, but since the Battle of Hogwarts, he'd made a conscious decision to try and live his life by it. How he had spent his teenage years, scared of everything, made the saying more significant.

Plants were the something fun he'd decided to dedicate his life to. For anyone else, that might be a strange choice, but he thought they were interesting. The more creature-like varieties were especially intriguing, with personalities of their own. There are also a lot of plants in the world that could kill you; poisonous plants, plants you could potentially be allergic to, and plants that enjoyed nothing more than to reach out a green tentacle and tighten it slowly until you stopped breathing. There are even plants that can eat you, and those were just the muggle ones.

He'd turned his passion for herbology into a career, quickly abandoning Auror training. He decided that he didn't want evil wizards to be the death of him, and instead, he took up a teaching position alongside Professor Sprout at Hogwarts.

He had been busy tidying up Greenhouse Three, coaxing the Venomous Tentacular back into its pot, when Pomona had come bounding in. Despite getting closer to retirement every day, she still retained the cheerful personality that had warmed Neville to her all those years ago. She had a magazine, which she passed excitedly to him.

"Look! There's another article about that mysterious plant…" She jabbed her finger numerous times at the piece. "They're reporting deaths again in Africa, and they now suspect that it's a new variant of the Alihotsy plant. They're complaining that the African Ministry is too slow to investigate and that someone needs to do something to identify it before the death toll creeps up."

Neville slapped a wayward vine of the Venomous Tentacular and skim-read the article quickly.

The Alihotsy plant was something he had been interested in for a while. Only recently, he'd taken cuttings of the plant to put in his private garden, hoping to study its effects further. Although not deadly by itself, if eaten, the leaves could induce hysteria and uncontrollable laughter. The plant was commonly used for brewing the Laughing Potion, but Neville was interested to see if there was a way he could use it to alleviate the symptoms of depression.

An article in the previous edition of _The Herbologist_ had claimed that anyone who got within a foot of this new plant experienced sudden bleakness and increasingly growing madness. So far, only one person had survived it, but they were too far gone to be useful in discovering its location. Authorities found the poor wizard apparating around Zambia, and he still hadn't been able to give his name. The plant was dangerous for sure, and Neville felt his intrigue grow.

"This sounds extremely interesting. Do you mind if I cut this out and keep it with the others Pomona?"

"Yes, as long as you're only collecting them for interest! Don't you dare even think about trying to track the plant down, Neville!" Professor Sprout gave him a stern look.

Ever since he was a student, she had treated him as if he were one of her own. She tutted as she rearranged a group of Mandrake pots.

"Nobody has discovered that plant and lived to tell the tale," she continued. "It very obviously doesn't want to be found. I read one report that said the madness could be potentially worse than a hundred torture curses. Not even war heroes can survive that!"

Neville flinched at her choice of words, even though he knew she didn't mean to be cruel. He, of all people, fully understood the Cruciatus Curse's power and what it could do to a person's sanity. His parents were still permanent residents of the Janus Thickey Ward, after all.

"Come on, lad. They'll be serving dinner soon." She laid a firm, reassuring hand on his shoulder and Neville followed her. The magazine was now rolled up, stuffed firmly in the pocket of his robes.

It wasn't until he got back to his bedroom that night that he finally had a chance to read the article properly.

Despite Pomona's warning, he couldn't get the idea of the new variant of the Alihotsy out of his head. When he wasn't teaching, he spent the majority of his time learning how plants could help alleviate some of the more incurable magical ailments. If the rumours were true, and this new plant induced a similar madness to the Cruciatus Curse, then there was a possibility that he could utilise it to find a cure to help his parents.

The article remained on his mind throughout his evening patrol, and even when he finally got to bed, he tossed and turned all night. Eventually, he gave up on the idea of getting a decent night's sleep and dressed quickly before making his way quietly through the castle to the library, the magazine still clutched in his hands.

It didn't take him long to locate an encyclopaedia on Africa burrowed deep at the back of the shelves. He placed it on a nearby table, pulling out his collection of articles and his trusty copy of _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_ , battered and held together with years of spellotape, from his bag. He set to work at once, trying to figure out where he could find this new plant.

Over the next few days, Neville's investigations consumed him, and he often found himself distracted whilst teaching. He'd have to get to the bottom of it before he lost his job. He used every spare hour to work on it, even visiting the massive Muggle library in Aberdeen. Eventually, he felt like he had a plan.

According to the articles, the plant liked to grow in dark, shady areas. Africa was generally a dry climate, but there were large bodies of water where deep, lush vegetation still liked to grow. His research indicated that the Muggle areas along the Zambezi River and its surrounding valleys showed increasing amounts of magical activity. Neville decided to start his hunt there.

Despite his initial curiosity, he made the choice to delay his adventure until the summer holidays so as not to raise any suspicions with Professor Sprout. He had plans to visit Luna and her new family in Morocco, so, to put Pomona off the trail, Neville talked to her about his hopes of bringing home a pear plant — an unsuspicious Muggle cactus native to Morocco. It was useful in alleviating the symptoms of Portkey-sickness.

Eventually, the end of term arrived, and Neville couldn't help but feel nervous as he packed for his trip. That night, he barely slept, thoughts of his risky plan rolling around his mind. He was chancing death. It wasn't just the plant he was worried about, even travelling through Africa would be dangerous. But at the forefront of his mind was his motto: _Everything will kill you, so choose something fun._ He was a Gryffindor after all.

Neville travelled the next day via train and aeroplane to Morocco, deciding to use Muggle travel for the first leg of his journey just to say he had. After a brief stay with Luna, he found himself growing restless again.

The invention of the iPhone came with more possibilities for the Wizarding community to develop magical applications. Once they had worked out how to counteract the interference magic caused with muggle electronics, it was as if the floodgates had been opened. Some applications were useful, whereas others were disastrously inappropriate. One of the more valuable of these was Maps. This was a seemingly innocent Muggle app that did exactly what it said on the tin — displayed maps of the world and helped you find places. However, if you could access the Magical App store (installed on phones in Diagon Alley), a Wizard could use Maps to travel to any location in the world magically.

There were some issues with this. For example, the magical engineers had to tweak the interface so that users confirmed their desired location twice after wizards with "fat thumb syndrome" mistakenly sent themselves in the opposite direction. Neville still preferred this to travel by traditional magical methods, which often left him nauseous. Magical Maps took a little longer, as it utilised data streams and Wi-Fi signals, but once you reached your destination, you were able to hold onto your lunch. The only downside that Neville could see was how expensive it was, as credits for the app came at a high cost.

After saying goodbye to Luna, Neville found a safe place away from Muggle eyes and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He looked up the first village on his list — Katima Mulilo — and confirmed its spelling before pressing the okay button twice. The delightful, almost pleasurable electrical buzz washed over his body, he closed his eyes, and he was pulled into the phone.

When he opened his eyes again, he was staring at the Zambezi River. He dug in his pocket for a map, and after locating the path he needed, he hiked his rucksack further up his back and began his adventure.

It took Neville almost two weeks to journey along the river, alternating between walking, local buses, and minibuses. He stuck to travelling in the day, finding safe looking hotels to hole up in at night. He was careful where he walked; the last thing he wanted was to meet his untimely end by being eaten by an alligator or getting on the wrong side of a group of outlaws. He couldn't believe the country's vast landscapes, and he fell in love with it all. He made a vow to bring Hannah at some point in the not-so-distant future.

By the time he made it to Kariba, 650km from where he had started, he had grown somewhat disheartened.

Zimbabwe had been a difficult area to visit due to political unrest. If he hadn't been a wizard, he might have turned around, but his wand and curiosity about the plant kept him going. Luckily, he'd also put together a list of magical allies in the area, and he drew on these resources as he moved from village to town.

As he drew closer to his next destination, he felt the pull of magic increasing, and it crawled over his skin, making the hairs on his arms stand up. He stepped off a bus, stretching his legs with a grimace before turning his face towards the hot sun. He was grateful he had packed light; he wasn't used to this kind of heat.

He cast his eyes around the town, already feeling that there was something different here than the others he'd visited. Deep down, he knew this was where he'd locate the plant.

After a brief search, he found a hotel and he booked himself in for the next week instead of his usual two days. The room was clean and seemingly quiet. He contemplated a nap, but he was too eager to get out, especially after spending most of the morning sitting on the cramped bus. He abandoned his pack, and after making sure his wand was firmly in its holster, he made his way back to the reception. He pressed the silver bell on the desk and waited patiently for an answer.

"Is everything okay with your room, sir?" The receptionist was a plump brown woman, with a quiet, friendly manner. She reminded Neville of his old professors and colleagues at the school, immediately making him feel at home.

"My room is fine. Thank you. I know this is an odd question, but I am a horticulturist studying African plants. I wondered if there was anything of interest in the area?"

Her smile was pleasant and warm. "There's the Miombo protea, although it's out of season at the moment. Sometimes you can catch it flowering late. And there's the Gladiolus down by the side of the reservoir." The receptionist paused to think. "Oh, and there's that new weed down by the dam — an ugly looking thing. Most of the townsfolk think it brings bad luck and have been avoiding it. You'd do best to stay away from that…"

Neville smiled to himself, pleased with how his investigation was going. His instincts were right. "Ah, well the difference between a weed and a flower is judgement, some would like to think…"

He winked at the receptionist and helped himself to a local map before leaving the hotel.

He soon found he didn't need the map as he found the dam easily on the town's outskirts. Neville could feel the pull of magic, drawing him closer. He walked without purpose, slowly taking in the sights as he made his way down to the lake. It was shady here, and the perfect environment for the Alihotsy to grow.

He checked his surroundings. Luckily the area was quiet, and there was no sign of Muggles. He felt like he was getting closer, and he drew his wand, lighting it with Lumos, and holding it at shoulder length. He took a few more steps, and suddenly everything started turning dark.

Neville was stopped in his tracks, his heart pounding wildly as the gloom started creeping in, blurring the edges of his vision. He took a deep breath, willing his nerves to calm.

He recognised what was happening. It must be the plant. He took a few steps back until the darkness cleared. He felt drained, and fatigue washed over his body. His hand was shaking, so he extinguished his wand.

He breathlessly cast a protection charm over the area. He could do without the plant killing more innocent people, Muggle or magical, and he didn't have the strength to investigate today. Slowly, he made his way back to the hotel, making sure to wave to the receptionist before heading straight to his bedroom.

His intended nap lasted all night, and he woke feeling refreshed. Breakfast was brief, but he did make idle chit-chat with the receptionist before heading back out. This time, he brought a small travel bag filled with chocolate, vials, and a magical transportation box. If he managed to capture the plant, he'd have to ensure he got it safely back to Hogwarts. Unfortunately, the box wouldn't protect him from Professor Sprout's wrath.

Neville took his time approaching the plant. He was filled with the confidence from his research and a full night's sleep, and as soon as he felt the buzz of the concealment charm, he produced a Patronus, protecting himself from the madness that would surely creep over him.

He did nothing much, but he allowed himself to experience the darkness, trying to get used to the feeling. When the gloom started moving toward his brain, he again backed away and out of the concealment charm before taking a bite of chocolate.

On the third day, once he'd adjusted to the creeping gloom, he started singing to the plant. He kept his distance at first, keeping his voice strong and loud. Once he felt confident the gloom wasn't consuming him, he started to draw closer.

Singing to plants was something Professor Sprout had taught him whilst he was still at Hogwarts. It could tame the most vicious of plants and kept the friendlier ones happy too. Neville's singing also calmed his parents when they were agitated or upset during his visits.

Soon he was close enough to see the plant. It had classic characteristics of the Alihotsy genus. Its green and pink leaves waved in the summer breeze, but rather than growing tall in a tree, the plant sprouted low to the ground, creeping over the bank of the lake. Neville dropped to the floor, and he changed his song to a lullaby. The leaves moved in time to the rhythm of his ballad, softly and slowly until to the untrained eye, it looked like it was asleep.

Neville looked around whilst still singing, checking that he wasn't being watched before shuffling on his knees through the grass to get next to the plant. He took a huge breath and waited for the madness to take over. However, his Patronus stayed strong and despite the growing sense of gloom; the insanity never came.

He reached for his trowel, his hand trembling as he dug up a sample. He carefully placed it in the magical box, sealing the container before sitting back on his haunches. He'd done it.

He hurried back to his hotel room and quickly packed his things. He was eager to get the plant back to Hogwarts. That's where the real investigation would begin.

He debated booking a flight, but it was too risky. After settling his bill, he left the hotel, found a quiet corner of the town and pulled out his phone. He baulked at the cost, but he paid it anyway. After confirming he wanted to go to Hogsmeade twice, he disappeared.

It was dark by the time he made it back to Greenhouse Three, and he was surprised to see Professor Sprout waiting for him. Forgetting her warning words from a few weeks ago, he rushed towards her.

"Professor, I did it…"

He shucked off his rucksack, placing it carefully on the floor before retrieving the transportation box. The green and pink plant was still sleeping, a low sound of music coming from it. He placed it carefully on the workbench and stepped back proudly.

Pomona stepped up to the container, eyeing it carefully.

"I had a feeling this was the reason you rushed away on your holiday, despite all the talk about Morocco…" Her voice was stern, but Neville could see a glint of excitement in her eyes.

"I did bring back the pear plant too…" He laughed.

A smile twitched at Sprout's lips. "So, it was music that subdued it in the end?"

"Yes, lullabies specifically. The same ones I sing to my parents." He felt a rush of pride fill his chest. "That, and the help of my Patronus to keep the initial gloom at bay."

"And you concealed it?"

"Yes, I left more than enough of the plant for the African Ministry to find, and I reduced my concealment charms to just repel Muggles."

"You'll have to report it…" She turned to Neville, a smile still threatening to spill onto her face. He knew she was desperate to praise him properly. "Our Ministry will need to know just in case the African Ministry finds out it was a Brit that discovered it. The political climate is just as bad with our kind…"

"Understood…" The warning did nothing to dampen Neville's spirit. He had plenty of time to investigate the plant better. The new term didn't start for another six weeks. "I need to go to London anyway. Hannah will be wondering where I am!"

Professor Sprout threw him a warm smile before turning to leave the greenhouse. "Well done, Neville. I think you could do wonderful things with this plant — now you've learnt how to tame it…"

Neville felt his sense of pride grow stronger, burning eagerly from his heart. He hadn't felt this way since he'd killed Nagini, and if anything, this felt better.

He secured his greenhouse, checking the plant's enchantments before heading back up the path towards Hogsmeade. His mind was racing with potential names for his discovery.


End file.
